Damn, crickets are cheap.

AceOfJacks

Arachnopeon
Joined
Feb 4, 2011
Messages
4
just bought 5 tiny crickets for my baby (1.5 in) b smithi coming in the mail very soon.


only 11 cents per cricket. dammmm. mere pocket change.


anyways, the girl at the store said to feed my T everyday until its not hungry! (aka, she keeps putting crickets in until it stops eating.) i was like "whattttt" cuz i remember reading you only have to feed it one cricket every week.


not even sure if the little guy needs to eat right away when i get him anyways. (since he's so small)



cliffs on questions:

-how many crickets should my redknee eat in a sitting?
-how many sittings should he eat in a week?
-when i receive my T in the mail, should i feed it right away?


thanks!
 

Durandal

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 27, 2010
Messages
126
11c is the highest price I've ever seen per cricket, especially tiny ones. :(
 

AceOfJacks

Arachnopeon
Joined
Feb 4, 2011
Messages
4
11c is the highest price I've ever seen per cricket, especially tiny ones. :(
to me, after taking care of a dog and having to pay 100$ for every bag of food, 11 cents is fine.


i only got one T to take care of anyways.
 

Embers To Ashes

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 14, 2011
Messages
269
I personaly feed my sling as much as she will eat. However, she is the fattest thing Ive ever seen and is now on a diet. You could probably feed him 1-2 baby crickets three times a week and he still be fat and happy. I would set him up in his enclosure and give him a day or two to ajust before you feed him.

Also, I would sugest feeding him little baby roaches because they are more nutrishus. Crickets IMO are like popcorn. Alot of exo and no food. If you do decide to feed him crickets, you might want to raise them yourself so you can gut load them.


***and if your paying 11cents a cricket, your getting ripped off
 

JC

Arachnolort
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 15, 2009
Messages
1,421
One a week is the rule. If you want, you can do two a week. The crickets should be the appropriate size. Don't feed a 1.5" sling a 1.5" cricket because it might have trouble taking it down. Try the smaller sizes first such as .75". You can try feeding it right away. If the spider ignores it after a minute or two, remove the insect and try again the next day.
 

Embers To Ashes

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 14, 2011
Messages
269
One a week is the rule. If you want, you can do two a week. The crickets should be the appropriate size. Don't feed a 1.5" sling a 1.5" cricket because it might have trouble taking it down. Try the smaller sizes first such as .75". You can try feeding it right away. If the spider ignores it after a minute or two, remove the insect and try again the next day.
or listen to him. He knows more than I do. :rolleyes:
 

AceOfJacks

Arachnopeon
Joined
Feb 4, 2011
Messages
4
how long should i leave the cricket in the tank with the T before i determine if it isn't hungry?
 

Anansis

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 28, 2007
Messages
436
I leave them in overnight then remove in the morning if still uneaten.

PS Cheap now but wait til you buy a thousand or so every week.
 

AceOfJacks

Arachnopeon
Joined
Feb 4, 2011
Messages
4
I leave them in overnight then remove in the morning if still uneaten.

PS Cheap now but wait til you buy a thousand or so every week.
yea hahaha i have a feeling this hobby is going to grow on me and i'll end up needed more crickets for my numerous amounts of spiders!
 

Rob1985

This user has no status.
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Feb 14, 2005
Messages
866
Or... you could always grow you own food , *cough* B.dubia *cough*.
I have 3 T's that refuse B.dubia... so I have a small cricket colony. Maybe when the slings get older, but for now I just enjoy the chirping at night. {D
 

JC

Arachnolort
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 15, 2009
Messages
1,421
I have 3 T's that refuse B.dubia... so I have a small cricket colony. Maybe when the slings get older, but for now I just enjoy the chirping at night. {D
I myself prefer using lobster roaches and B.lateralis, mine never turn these down.

For those of you keeping less than 10 T's, buying crickets isn't a bad idea.
 

jbm150

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 18, 2009
Messages
1,650
You bought 5 crickets? Not a dozen but 5? lol I'm not giving you a hard time, just funny to me

My thoughts are you're going about this all wrong. Instead of tailoring your T's needs with crickets, you need to buy more Ts to accomodate buying a dozen or so crickets at a time :D
 

High_Rolling_T

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 8, 2010
Messages
140
You bought 5 crickets? Not a dozen but 5? lol I'm not giving you a hard time, just funny to me

My thoughts are you're going about this all wrong. Instead of tailoring your T's needs with crickets, you need to buy more Ts to accommodate buying a dozen or so crickets at a time :D
Thats exactly what I thought too!!

Anyways, I still buy crickets and am up to 27 Ts now. The hardest thing about buying them is that its hard to judge how many to get and I usually end up overestimating a good bit.

Plus, it was mentioned earlier that roaches are much more nutritious than crickets but that isn't true at all. Both roaches and crickets are very similar on their levels of nutrition for Ts and are excellent staple diets
 

Johnny1320

Arachnopeon
Joined
Nov 22, 2010
Messages
48
11 cents seems cheap, until you run out of crickets a week before you can buy 1k and you have 50 frogs and 38 t's to feed. :wall:
 

codykrr

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 22, 2008
Messages
3,112
$.11 cents per crappy cricket?! thats insane! I was getting them for .45 cents a dozen...$5 for a thousand. ect..ect.

Also, yeah, feed once or twice a week. overly fat Tarantulas can have problems molting, climb and fall issues which would incluse ruptures of the abdomen.

like a dog, you dont want them overly fat.
 

Johnny1320

Arachnopeon
Joined
Nov 22, 2010
Messages
48
$.11 cents per crappy cricket?! thats insane! I was getting them for .45 cents a dozen...$5 for a thousand. ect..ect.

Also, yeah, feed once or twice a week. overly fat Tarantulas can have problems molting, climb and fall issues which would incluse ruptures of the abdomen.

like a dog, you dont want them overly fat.
5 for a thousand? Online?
 

AceOfJacks

Arachnopeon
Joined
Feb 4, 2011
Messages
4
so i come back from class today and see that 3 of my crickets are gone hahaha


no way they could've escaped, so i've concluded that they ate each other. this normal? i put a sliced orange in the tank to feed em...


Looks like i'm going to have to buy them in bulk.

is there a place to buy them from online without the shipping box saying "live" on the side?
 

jbm150

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 18, 2009
Messages
1,650
so i come back from class today and see that 3 of my crickets are gone hahaha


no way they could've escaped, so i've concluded that they ate each other. this normal? i put a sliced orange in the tank to feed em...


Looks like i'm going to have to buy them in bulk.

is there a place to buy them from online without the shipping box saying "live" on the side?
That was the other thing, crickets die really easily. And they cannibalize each other. Five crickets can become none so very quickly.

Crickets suck
 

AceOfJacks

Arachnopeon
Joined
Feb 4, 2011
Messages
4
That was the other thing, crickets die really easily. And they cannibalize each other. Five crickets can become none so very quickly.

Crickets suck
yea, im like completely new to this, learning as i go along.



anyone know a site that ships crickets without having a "LIVE" label on the side of the box?
 
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